Fuerte terremoto sacude el norte de California, se detecta réplica

If you want to catch the Strawberry Moon at its brightest, one of the best places to do it is just a short drive from home. Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks offer some of California’s darkest night skies — a perfect backdrop for watching June’s full moon rise over giant sequoias and deep Sierra canyons.

The Strawberry Moon will soon illuminate the night sky, the first full moon of summer because it occurs after the summer solstice, which was on Sunday, June 21. Despite its nickname, June's moon won't look red like a strawberry, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.

Its name comes from the fact that the fruit usually ripens and is ready for picking around this time of year. Full and new moons' names are traditionally used to track the seasons, the almanac states.

June's full moon's nickname originated from the Native American Algonquian tribes in the northeastern U.S., as well as the Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota peoples. Here's what to know about the full moon and when it's set to peak in the night sky.

The Strawberry Moon peaks on Monday, June 29, at 4:57 p.m. PT and will stay bright that evening, according to the Farmer's Almanac.

It will still look full a few days before and after it peaks. Other names for the Strawberry Moon include Berries Ripen Moon, Blooming Moon, Green Corn Moon, Hoer Moon, and Birth Moon.

The moon's nicknames, like April's Pink Moon, May's Flower Moon or June's Strawberry Moon, originated from Native Americans, Colonial Americans and European and other cultures' names for the moon. To get the best view of the moon, check local weather forecasts in your area to make sure there won't be heavy cloud coverage or storms.

If you're going to go stargazing the night of the full moon, make sure to check the weather and cloud coverage, dress appropriately, use bug spray to avoid bites from mosquitoes, and bring a blanket, a sleeping bag or a reclining chair to lie on. The rest of the full moon dates for 2026 include the Buck Moon on July 29, the Sturgeon Moon (partial lunar eclipse) on August 28, the Harvest Moon on September 26, the Hunter's Moon on October 26, the Beaver Moon (super moon) on November 24, and the Cold Moon (super moon) on December 23.

Plan your visit to Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. The best time to visit is late spring through early fall; summer for full access, fall for fewer crowds.

The parks are open year‑round; some roads and areas close seasonally due to snow. Entrance fee required.

You can get there by car via Highway 198 (Sequoia) or Highway 180 (Kings Canyon). During the summer months, the Sequoia Shuttle whisks visitors from downtown Visalia to the Sequoia's main entrance.

California state leaders are working against the clock to reach last-minute agreements with interest groups on several high-profile ballot measures before Thursday's deadline to withdraw them from the November election. The annual ritual involves intense negotiations behind closed doors, as lawmakers seek to avoid costly and contentious campaigns by striking compromises.

One major deal has already been announced: a compromise between Uber and the state's trial lawyers. Uber had qualified a ballot initiative to cap attorney contingency fees and limit medical cost recoveries for crash victims, while attorney groups countered with a measure to increase Uber's liability for sexual misconduct.

The resulting legislation, Senate Bill 623, would cap medical cost recoveries in cases involving medical liens, but only for crashes involving ride-hailing services. It would not restrict contingency fees.

In exchange, Uber must strengthen driver background checks, including annual renewals and rejection of drivers convicted of violent offenses or DUI in the past seven years. The bill also prohibits attorneys from recommending medical providers they have financial ties to.

Consumer Watchdog praised the deal as striking a fair balance.

A record-breaking $11.25 billion affordable housing bond, Senate Bill 417, appears headed for the November ballot. The bond would authorize $10 billion for affordable housing construction, rehabilitation, and preservation, plus $1.25 billion to help veterans buy homes.

Governor Gavin Newsom said the bond would help over 40,000 people buy homes and create or preserve tens of thousands of affordable units. The Legislature must pass the bill by Thursday and the governor must sign it before it appears on the ballot.

However, the billionaire wealth tax—a one-time 5% tax on California's roughly 200 billionaires proposed by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West—remains unresolved. The union has rejected Governor Newsom's late-hour efforts to negotiate a withdrawal, despite Newsom's opposition and alliance with other labor groups and healthcare organizations.

The union estimates the tax would raise $100 billion for healthcare, schools, and food programs. Billionaires and Silicon Valley moguls argue it would drive wealthy residents out of the state.

The union offered a 2% alternative, but Newsom called it "poorly designed." Union President Dave Regan expressed doubts about a last-minute compromise and said they are prepared to go forward with the ballot measure.

Lawmakers are also expected to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to increase the cap on deposits into the state's rainy day fund from 10% to 20% of general fund tax revenue. The "Save for California's Future Act" would also allow using excess revenues to pay down the state's $20 billion federal unemployment insurance debt from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposal is part of ongoing efforts to stabilize California's finances amid a multi-year budget deficit and heavy reliance on income taxes from wealthy residents.

Graduating high school seniors in California have achieved a record-breaking financial aid application completion rate, according to the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC). The class of 2026 surpassed a 70% completion rate for financial aid applications, marking a significant increase of 17 percentage points from 53% during the 2021–22 academic year, the commission announced in a June 15 news release.

“High School Seniors, you made history this year,” Daisy Gonzales, executive director of the commission, said in the release. “This milestone is a testament to the hard work of our students, families, educators, and community partners across the state.”

The record comes after a California policy, first implemented during the 2022–23 academic year, that requires graduating seniors to complete a financial aid application as a graduation requirement, unless they opt out by submitting a waiver form. The milestone moves the state closer to the strategic targets outlined in CSAC’s Student Success Blueprint, which aims to ensure 80% of graduating seniors complete a financial aid application by the year 2030.

“Today’s announcement demonstrates powerful, measurable momentum toward that objective, after two years of implementation,” the commission said.

Starting in the 2022–23 academic year, all public school districts and charter schools were required to ensure graduating seniors complete either the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or the California Dream Act Application (CADAA), under a mandate established by California’s 2021–22 State Budget Act (Assembly Bill 132). Students can opt out by submitting a waiver.

Prior to the policy’s adoption, only 53% of California high school seniors completed a FAFSA or CADAA in the 2021–22 school year, when the state ranked 17th nationally for financial aid completion. Students cited several reasons for not submitting a financial aid application, including believing their family was not eligible, not knowing they could apply, or finding the forms too cumbersome, according to a 2018 national study by the National Center for Education Statistics.

As of January, California was one of 12 states that required high school seniors to complete a financial aid application to graduate, according to the online scholarship matching service Fastweb.

A Public Policy Institute of California report, released in October 2025, analyzed the changes in college enrollment and access to financial aid in the first year of the new policy implementation and found it a “promising strategy for increasing both college enrollment and financial aid uptake.” The study found the policy contributed to an additional 1,500 students enrolled in college, resulting in a 0.3 percentage point uptick in the college-going rate. The number of students who completed a financial aid application and enrolled in college grew by 6 percentage points, the report found.

“This reflects not only an overall increase in college enrollment but also more students gaining access to financial aid upon enrollment,” the nonprofit said. The report also found that historically underserved students saw the greatest increase in college enrollment among those who had completed financial aid applications.

Despite the record completion rate, there is still time for some students to apply for financial aid. Seniors who plan to attend a California community college have until September 2 to submit the FAFSA or CADAA, the commission said, adding that it encourages those who have yet to apply to submit an application as soon as possible.

“While we are so proud of all the students who completed a financial aid application, we want students who have not submitted an application yet to know that there is still time, the door is still open, and support is available to help navigate the process,” Matthew Elder, director for the Riverside Cal-SOAP, said in the release. In addition to covering tuition, financial aid can also go toward basic needs, such as housing, food, and transportation, Elder added.

“Higher education is within your reach.”

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation is urging California lawmakers and Governor Gavin Newsom to pass Senate Bill 719 before a July 1 deadline, warning that failure to do so could force a suspension of new and used vehicle sales across the state. The urgency stems from a technically unworkable requirement set to take effect under Senate Bill 1394, a 2024 law designed to prevent perpetrators of domestic violence from using connected vehicle services to track, monitor, or harass survivors.

SB 719, authored by Senator Christopher Cabaldon, would adjust the implementation timeline for certain in-vehicle technologies that automakers say are impossible to comply with by the current deadline.

Without SB 719 becoming law before July 1, there is a substantial risk that auto sales in California will be suspended, said Curt Augustine, senior director of state affairs at the Alliance for Automotive Innovation. Automakers are already implementing the domestic violence victim protections required by SB 1394, but compliance with some elements of the law is impossible this year.

The additional year provided by SB 719 merely aligns implementation with the reality of vehicle design and manufacturing. Augustine noted that the bill is being complicated by last-minute opposition and misinformation from the Consumer Federation of California, a trial lawyer ally, whose misleading attempt to keep this bill from passage should be confirmation that automakers will be vulnerable to frivolous lawsuits for vehicles that cannot meet the current deadline.

SB 719 does not eliminate the protections established by SB 1394. Automakers have already implemented the law's online process, allowing a qualified person to request the termination of another person's access to connected vehicle services.

That protection remains in effect, including the requirement that a completed request be acted upon within two business days. The bill instead revises deadlines for in-vehicle technologies that require extensive engineering, testing, and integration across different makes, models, model years, and vehicle systems.

Under current law, an in-vehicle mechanism to disable location access was required by July 1, 2026, for vehicles manufactured before 2028 that can receive necessary software updates. SB 719 moves that deadline to July 1, 2027, for model year 2027 and older vehicles, unless implementation is technologically infeasible.

For vehicles manufactured on or after January 1, 2028, the requirement shifts to implementation for 2028–2030 model year vehicles as soon as practicable after sale, unless technologically infeasible, and for all vehicles beginning with the 2031 model year.

Vehicle development begins seven to eight years before a particular model reaches the road, making changes involving connected services particularly challenging. Engineering and validation are needed to ensure these changes do not interfere with GPS, theft prevention systems, emergency services, advanced driver assistance systems, or other vehicle functions.

These challenges are especially significant for existing vehicles, as different makes, models, and trim levels use different combinations of hardware and software, and some vehicles cannot receive the required functionality through a software update alone. SB 719 recognizes those technical realities while requiring automakers to implement the protections wherever technologically feasible.

The automotive industry has also supported similar protections at the federal level. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation supports the bipartisan Safe Vehicle Access for Survivors Act, introduced by Representatives.

SB 719 is currently pending before the Assembly Appropriations Committee and must pass both the full Assembly and Senate on concurrence, and be signed into law by Governor Newsom before July 1.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has announced that it will waive fishing license requirements for two days this year, including July 4th. This initiative, known as Free Fishing Day, opens California waters to residents and visitors without the need for a fishing license, encouraging outdoor recreation and family-friendly activities.

The CDFW typically designates two free fishing days annually to promote angling and conservation awareness. On these days, anyone can fish in public waters across the state, provided they follow all other fishing regulations, such as size and bag limits.

The July 4th date aligns with Independence Day celebrations, offering an additional opportunity for families and friends to enjoy California's natural resources. The second free fishing day will be announced later in the year.

Anglers are reminded that while no license is required, all other rules, including catch limits and gear restrictions, remain in effect. This program is part of CDFW's broader efforts to increase public access to fishing and foster a connection with the outdoors.

For more details, including a list of participating waters and regulations, residents should visit the CDFW website or contact local wildlife offices. The free fishing day applies to all public waters in California, including lakes, rivers, and coastal areas, making it a statewide opportunity for recreation.